Utopia's Prejudice
by QuirkQuartz
Summary: Arriving in Xadia, Rayla immediately finds herself in conflict with her homeland - Understanding that centuries of belief in Elven superiority over Humanity to be nothing but lies, yet still wanting to be proud of her people and their history. As she questions the ability for peace between Elves and Humans, Callum reminds her why they set out on this journey


Discomfort etched itself throughout her body. She felt uncomfortable.

A culture that Rayla was used to seemed foreign now. Completely and totally foreign.

Well, she didn't know if she could call it foreign, so to speak. It was a culture that she still completely recognized, and had hundreds of fond memories of. A culture that she understood, and knew how everything worked within. A culture she could navigate. How couldn't she?

This was home.

One could observe a lot just by sitting in a public space in Xadia. And this particular town, Lichterluft, she had passed through on the way to Katolis. She knew the town well. Everything was exactly as she remembered her homeland. Magic flowed through everything, from the streetlamps that let people see at night, to the gardeners and construction workers, beautifying and building respectively with any number of spells. Bakers produced their loafs by utilizing the elements, and performers displayed their skills to appease and entertain the children, to inspire and enrapture them, and get the brats out of their parents' hair for just a little while.

In the middle of the Glittering Lake – The lake that this town had been founded alongside - Stood the Hall of Residency, where over half of the town's population resided. It was held afloat, hovering above the water with the air magic this place was known for having an affinity for. Along the edge of the entire lake, was a pier, and on that pier, were stacks of slabs. All someone had to do to reach the hall was step out as though they were walking to fall into the lake – And those stacked slabs would shoot out, ensuring no one fell in, and created a bridge wherever said traveller walked. All hovering, just a few inches above the water, almost like it taunted it, and the laws of physics that were utterly powerless against the might that was magic – A symbol of Elven architecture. Almost like it was done just to prove that they were capable of doing it. To an extent, it was.

All of it was home. All of this – This was what she had lived in her whole life. What she had fought for. What she had been ready to defend with her life. Against Humans.

Against…. Those 'monsters'.

Rayla sighed. She looked towards Callum. It had been…. A monstrous effort, but they had been able to procure him an illusion enchantment. Getting him through all the small towns and alleyways and everything in between, just to find someone willing to sell illusion magic and was also willing to ask absolutely zero questions had been one of the hardest things to do when you were trying to hide a Human who needed the damned thing, but they'd managed it. Now, he was disguised as a Skywing Elf, and no one around them was the wiser.

Skywing Elf suited him, she supposed. The way he looked around everything like a child in an amulet dispensary, looking to select their first magical item to take home – It went along with the Skywing Elf culture of intrigue and excitement they were known for throughout Xadia. No one thought much about a Skywing Elf getting all excited over what to them, would be incredibly mundane usage of magic.

He was scratching some touches onto one of the drawings within his sketchbook. His tongue was poking out of the corner of his lips, just slightly. "Rayla?"

"What is it this time?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"What did you call this again?"

"We call that magnificent feat of magic a 'streetlamp'." She said, with that sarcastic edge to her voice. She found it hard not to smirk. "You've got these in Katolis, don't'cha?"

Callum gave her an incredulous look. "Ours don't tend to _fly_."

The Moonshadow Elf glanced up at the hovering lamp – It's surface was spherical, and it travelled among the air currents. The underneath of it let out a very mild light- When it became pitch black at night, it would shine and illuminate the entire street. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I guess. Yours also tend t'be on fire."

"How's it work?"

"'Ow the 'eck would I know?" She questioned, her eyebrow raising and a slight smirk appearing on her face to match her accent becoming especially pronounced. "I'm not a Mage. I don't know how all this magic-y stuff works. I just slash at things."

The Human frowned slightly, though he went back to sketching. He'd been doing plenty of it since arriving in Xadia, making drawings of everything he had seen for the first time since arriving in the Elven homeland.

As he sketched, Rayla glanced around. Lichterluft only had a few inns, and the ones they had already been to seemed full up. Thought she would have wanted to avoid it, it seemed to her like the only real option seemed to be to try their luck at the Hall of Residency. Otherwise they were going to have to start knocking on doors and hoping that someone would be willing to put them up in exchange for work or something else.

"Alllllright." Callum spoke aloud, holding his sketchbook up so he could see both the streetlamp and his drawing at once. He smiled at the end result, and snapped the book shut. "I think I got it."

"Good." Rayla nodded. "I think we're goin' to have to try our luck at the Hall Of Residency."

"That – The – The giant floating tower in the middle of a lake?" Callum blinked, looking at the building. "Won't that cost, you know, money?"

"I thought I told you. We don't have money here."

"Trade, then?" Callum's eyebrow rose. "We had to give that Enchantment guy all the money I had from Katolis for the enchantment… And my jacket."

"Callum, they're not gonna charge us. If they have a room, they'll take us in." Rayla made her way down the road, gesturing for Callum to follow her. "The guy who got you that Enchantment wasn't exactly law abiding. Pretty sure he was some sorta collector. We're just lucky he accepted your money…. And, jacket. Not sure why he wanted that to be honest."

The fact that they had dealt with a criminal just now seemed to hit Callum. He blinked – What little he thought he did know about Xadia – About pretty much the entire concept of societal economics - Turned out to be false. "W - Wait, so how does… Anyone get by then?"

"People get given the food, and the goods we need to survive." Rayla explained, lowering her voice when they passed other Elves – An Elf explaining the lack of an Elven economy to another Elf would raise questions. "In exchange, we all contribute to our communities, and help each other out. We only get by if we help each other. It's… The way things work here."

Both of them walked up to the side of the pier. Callum, understandably, hesitated to just step off the pier, and trust magic he'd never seen to ensure his safety. Especially with Zym tucked away in his backpack, Rayla understood his mindset there.

She decided to demonstrate, taking a step as though there were solid ground beneath her. The sharp sound of stone grinding against stone echoed out, and then suddenly there was solid ground underneath her feet, holding her upright and floating above the water. She urged him to follow her. He took a deep breath, and then took that step onto the platform.

When he realized that he wasn't falling, he let out that held-in breath.

Rayla lead him into the Hall of Residency, and the pair of them were greeted with an immense reception area, with several roomkeepers sat behind different desks, in different areas of said reception. There were vendors of sorts, scattered around. In a Human culture, they would be charging money, but here, they were just there doing their part for the community, offering services in exchange for their meals and goods. Callum wandered towards some of these. Rayle made her way towards one of the roomkeepers.

"Heya." Rayla greeted, waving down the nearest one she saw. "You wouldn't happen to have any rooms available, would ya?"

"Traveller, right?" The person she had hailed down was an Earthblood, He seemed to recognize the worn clothes and expression of the weary journey-goer. "'Eld on just a sec…" He glanced momentarily underneath the desk, before he knelt down quickly, and just as quickly got back onto his feet. "Is it just ye yerself, or do ye have any companions with ye for yer stay?"

"One other." Rayla confirmed, glancing towards Callum, who was in the process of being offered new clothes from one of the vendors. She pointed him out with her thumb – If she didn't disclose how many people she was with, that would make things…. Awkward, later. "The Skywing Elf back there."

For a moment, the Roomkeeper watched Callum as he got overly excited at the possibility of free, Xadian clothes. Not outlandish for Skywing Elves, again, but it was still noteworthy. "Odd lad." The man muttered.

Rayla couldn't stop her chuckle. "You don't know the half of it."

Once more, the Earthblood knelt down. This time, he rose up with a key in hand. "Yer in luck, miss. We've got one double left."

"Just one?" Rayla asked, as the key was dropped into her hand. Her assassin instincts crept up on her, telling her to fish for whatever information she could get. "There something going on around here?"

"Yer not comin' from the east?"

"West, actually." Rayla admitted, honestly. "Was visiting some relatives back over in Aero." She added, dishonestly. They had been in Aero recently though. That was where they got Callum's enchantment. Better to build a lie into the truth. Made it easier to keep track of them.

"Right on the border then." The roomkeeper noted, taking in a sharp breath. "Ye've got to 'ave seen 'em then."

"What?"

"'Em 'umans."

"Humans?" Rayla raised her eyebrow. "I didn't see any. Why? What's the news?"

"They're buildin' up on 'border." The Earthblood explained quickly. "Word is them monsters're planning an attack."

Monsters.

"Aren't they always planning an attack?" Rayla asked, deadpanned. "Ah swear, every other month we 'ear about the Human armies ready to invade Xadia, 'n every time it's always just some group of hunters or a patrol coming back and someone panics and says it's a Human scouting force."

The roomkeeper nodded. "True enough, bu' this time it's fer real. They found on'a their banners 'n swords on our side of t'Breach, an no one's 'eard from the response units sent to check the situation there."

"….Yikes." Was all Rayla could say. She didn't know what was going on back in the Human Kingdoms. If something was going on, she didn't know a thing about it.

"Bloody 'umans." The Earthblood grumbled. "Y'can't trust anyone who's got five fingers 'n no 'orns." He tapped his own, proudly. "Vermin, the lot of 'em."

"M-Mhm." Rayla nodded, uncomfortably.

"Y'know why they say 'uman's don't 'ave 'orns?"

"I'm pretty sure you'll tell me."

"They're buried into their skulls." The Earthblood… Explained would imply he was making any logical sense. Claimed would be a better word. "They 'ad 'orns like us, but they lost 'em when they tried t'use Dark Magic. So, they craned into their skulls and made them thicker. Thicker skull, less room for a brain. S'why they're constantly fighting each other, 'n why they''ve got that nuts money setup. Sub-sentient apes, 'f 'yer askin' me."

"Is… that a fact?" Rayla nodded again. Her throat suddenly felt very dry.

"Aye. Seems t'be. Been people doing all kinds'a independent research last few months. S'why the place is full." He said, reminding Rayla of why she even bothered to ask him anything in the first place. "E'er since they killed the Dragon King, lot's'a people're wantin' to 'ave a crack at an 'uman, bring in a skull so we can see fer real." He paused for a moment. "Ah, 'm sorry miss. Been rambling, 'aven't I?"

This time, Rayla refused to dignify him with even a nod. "Just a bit." She tried to mask her disgust with a veil of sarcasm. Thankfully, this guy seemed to buy it.

"Bad 'abit 'o mine. Apologies, miss. I'll let'cha be going now."

"Thank you." Rayla nodded, and quickly turned around, wanting to be as far away from this person as possible.

* * *

The roomkeeper hadn't been lying when he'd explained why the Hall of Residency was so packed. Everywhere Rayla looked and listened, and people – Not even soldiers, but people – had come here, looking to stick their knife into a Human.

Groups of people who otherwise were talking and laughing with friends and relatives. People they'd known for years. At a distance they could have been talking about women or men, what happened to someone they knew, or an embarrassing story.

But they were talking about wanting to murder a Human, and somehow, they found those things equitable.

To someone else it might have even been nostalgic – She remembered hearing all these points, and seeing all these people, when she was training to be an assassin. Back when everything was simple, and black and white. Before the egg of the Dragon King was back in the picture. Before Zym was back in the picture.

She had heard the same thing, over and over again.

Stupid Humans. Monster Humans. Savages. Apes. Brutes. Stupid.

Inferior.

One term stood out.

Sub-sentient. That one was a first.

It made her feel ill.

Rayla was sat on the edge of her bed. Her hands were in front of her – Her three fingers and thumbs in front of her. No pinko – Pinky – Pink – Pink-x-o-j-r-k-p – Whatever the heck they were called by Humans, she didn't even care anymore. They were in front of her. One of her hands eventually trailed up, and ran itself along her horns. Then, through her white hair. Then against her pointed ear. The physical features of an Elf.

The things that made her 'better' than Humans.

Elves had always believed themselves superior to Humans. There were so many reasons that they claimed made them better – They lived longer than a century, Humans couldn't do magic, Humans relied on currency and hierarchy, they had pointless physical characteristics, like pink – Like four fingers instead of the optimal three.

And now, their brains were smaller? What had been going on while she had been in Katolis with Callum and Ezran? What fresh circle of rumours had begun to circulate beyond reason?

…

She sighed. She knew that this wasn't a development that had come about while she'd been gone.

It had always been there.

Elves were superior to Humans. That was just… A fact, according to her people. Something that they were just… Inherent. They were better than Humans. Because that was just how it was.

Rayla had been willing to train to kill for her people. To do the dirty work that had to be done to protect her home and her people. To protect Xadia so it could grow into the utopia she was certain it could become. To die for her people if she had to, even if dying was the last thing that she felt like doing. She belonged to her people – That was how she felt before she met Callum and Ezran.

Now?

Well…. Now she knew that was all lies.

…And she'd bought into them. For so, so long. Now, she knew Humans. Smart Humans. Kind Humans.

Before now, the most she had felt for Humans had been empathy – Inferior or not, it was hard to argue that Humans had gotten the short end of the stick on the continent. Humanity had been relegated to all manner of hardship for the actions of a few of its members. And it wasn't the fault of even any of the soldiers who had gone on the mission to kill the King of the Dragons – They had just followed orders, like she did. What alternative had they really had?

To an extent though, she had felt all those things towards Humans though – Anger, hatred, xenophobia. Superiority.

And none of it was true. None of what they said about Humans was true at all.

…This was what she'd been fighting for? What she'd been willing to kill for? To die for?

This? This was what she had decided her life was worth?

She didn't belong here. She felt like she didn't belong here – Like she was in a land that she recognized, but never knew, and now she was seeing it properly for the first time. Like her eyes were opened to… What was wrong with her home.

…The worst part was she knew she'd believed those things herself. Raised like she was, how couldn't she? It was just what she had been taught. But it was wrong – She was wrong. They were all wrong.

None of them knew what Humans were like. None of them had even seen a Human.

None of them knew Callum.

"Ta-daa!" Speaking of which.

Rayla looked over from her little bubble of thought and turned towards Callum. He'd just emerged from one of the adjoining rooms, fully changed into the clothes he'd acquired from the vendor downstairs, and was now…

He had his arms wide open, while his palms faced her, as he shook his hands. She was certain she'd seen him pull that pose before – Some kind of Human cultural thing, she guessed?

He did look good though. Blue was the colour he seemed to suit the most, so it was lucky he got a Skywing enchantment, she supposed. The new jacket was a big longer than his old one, which went down past his waist and about halfway down to his knees, with bits of fur and feather at the end of it. A similar pattern was repeated for the arms and neck hole. There were a few accessories to boot as well, like pins and badges, and a couple of pockets with the same fur and feather lining. His scarf had a few pins on it too, and now he had a hoodie, which he had up, almost like he was trying to mimic Rayla.

She smiled slightly at how daft he looked. "The heck're you supposed to be doing?"

"You know – Jazz hands!" He looked at her, then shook his hands again. "Ta-daa!"

"I – I don't know what that means, Callum."

"It's – It's just a thing Humans do to show off, I guess?" He said, standing upright and slouching slightly, apparently defeated. The brief pause was amusing though. It made Rayla think he didn't even know what the gesture was supposed to mean either. "Still, It looks good though, right?"

"Aye." Rayla nodded. "I've said it before, but Skywing seems like a good fit for you."

"I'm still a bit baffled about Xadia to be honest." He admitted, glancing out the window. "You don't use money here… You just get stuff if you need it? That's incredible to me."

"Aren't you a prince?" Rayla raised an eyebrow. "I'd've thought that you'd be used to this sorta treatment from all your years cooped up in a big castle."

Callum smiled awkwardly. "Well, I was the stepson to the king – Not…. Really a prince. Soren wasn't technically wrong when he called me step-prince. But I was a commoner before my mother married King Harrow."

"Were you poor or somethin'?"

"Not poor like, barley getting by poor, but we weren't rich either. Enough I remember feeling…. Sort of awkward about people constantly asking me if I wanted anything."

"Suppose that explains why you're not such a royal brat." The Elf chucked.

Good naturedly, Callum laughed. "Hey, Ez isn't like that either, you know."

"Yeah, I know." She assured him with another smile. "But you know the reputation of royal children."

He nodded. "Pretty sure some people assumed that of me and Ez whenever we left the castle. I like to think we surprised them."

"You surprised me for whatever that's worth."

"I'll take surprising an assassin. I can brag about that." Callum looked out the window again. As he did, he watched someone else approach the Hall of Residency. He did a sweeping scan of the town, once more being taken in by its marvels of magic and architecture. "Are all the towns in Xadia like this?"

"Similar." The Elf shrugged. "Each town tends to be different to one another though. They all have their own styles and specialties with magic, or architecture or jobs and attitudes. We all use the same system though."

"And no spoilt princes." Callum joked. A smile seemed to spread onto his face. "…I think I like the way Elves do things. I think I like your way."

"Not sure I do." Rayla muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Callum glanced back at Rayla, blinking a couple of times. He hadn't heard her clearly, but he had heard something.

"Oh, nothing." Rayla shook her head. "Just a habit I have when I'm thinking."

"I've never heard it before."

"Well, we've been running around your land until now." She gave him a smirk. "We're in Xadia now. My turf. I'm gonna have to be the one figurin' out where t'go and what t'say."

"...Fair point." He conceded. "I'm pretty out of my element here. So, what're you thinking?"

"Well, right now..." Rayla said, getting up onto her feet, and stretching her arms upwards as she did so. "...I'm thinkin' that I need to go for a walk."

* * *

Callum wasn't pleased about being left alone in the Halls, but he gave up when Rayla explained her logic to him - That as a long Elf, she could move around the town a hell of a lot faster, and she understood the customs and conversations and the likes to avoid raising suspicion. Granted, a Moonshadow Elf was a bit of an oddity this close to the border anyway, but it wasn't a cause for alarm. She could gather intel, figure out which routes to take and which to avoid, and she could do that a lot better without having to drag along some excited Skywing Elf disguised Human.

The look on his face when he's been ready to articulate some elaborate response to her, only to realize that he couldn't even begin to argue with her logic, was amusing to say the least.

One of the many things she had grown fond of about him. But if she was being honest, she hadn't been too concerned about him eagerly moving from place to place as he explored. He was daft, even for a Human, but he wasn't stupid. He could take care of himself.

Moreso, she hadn't wanted him to feel the sheer discouragement when he realized the levels of Elven animosity towards Humans.

Part of her had hoped - Truly, truly hoped - That it had just been a particularly bad day for the Elves in the town, and that they had defaulted to blaming Humanity for all their woes. that if she gave it a bit of time, and she went out again, the people would be calmer, and not so eager to speak of their own superiority compared to the Humans. That she was just... Misremembering her homeland. That being around Humans for as long as she had had made her misinterpret some of the things she had heard.

The roomkeeper was a scumbag, she wasn't gonna even try to recontextualize him - But maybe the rest of them would be more relaxed in their beliefs.

... She sighed after her third lap of the town. No such luck at all.

It was everywhere she looked, and everywhere she went. Humans inferior this, Humans responsible for that, Humans were responsible for all the wrongs in the world and the curse of death was merely the result of Dark Magic first practiced by Humans. Utterly insane beliefs, but they believed every word they said. They really did.

Darkness had fallen, though it wasn't all that late. At this time of year, they had little daylight to work with. That didn't stop magic from lighting the streets, and the people of Lichterluft went about their nightlife loudly, with wine and song. Alcohol loosened their lips to make they say and yell the innermost beliefs they held. None were pleasant.

Rayla had only been around Humans for a month, tops, and even she knew that these were just... Blatant lies. They were meant to stir people up, and people had heard them for so long that they had begun to believe them. They did believe them. Wholeheartedly.

There were a few differences between them - Elves had four fingers and horns, pointy ears, and some could do magic. Humans had five fingers, no horns, rounded ears, and couldn't perform magic.

What else?

What other reasons were there that made Humans so completely different to Elves, at least on a physical level? Humans still possessed the capability to do magic - Not a form of magic that was in any way moral, but they possessed the capability, nevertheless. And Callum now was able to use magic like an Elf, so that entire system of belief was now... Questionable. So, taking magic away from it, what was there?

The extra finger? The round ears? No horns?

Was there anything else? Anything that wasn't just how they looked?

Even the smallest thing to suggest that they were in some sort of separate species to the Elves? More importantly, anything to suggest that they were in even the slightest way below Elves, by way of nature?

Because Rayla couldn't think of one single thing to suggest that they were anything more than that. Minor, inconsequential differences in appearance.

She sighed. Her eyes were called towards a corner, where she saw two Earthblood Elves, arms over shoulders, singing one of the 'Xadia Strong and Proud' songs that were so common throughout their homeland. Lyrics like 'Against the monsters from the west, we stand as one, hands on chest' took on whole new meanings to her.

Meanings that translated to shame.

Deciding that she wasn't going to get anymore more out of this walk, Rayla decided to turn heel and head back to the Hall of Residency.

This walk hadn't helped her in the slightest.

* * *

In her mind, Rayla was going over the general geography of the area as she walked across the forming bridge to the Hall of Residence. Lichterluft was about three days from Steinwand, with the village of Baumseite just in the middle of them. She wondered if it would be possible, if she and Callum woke up at the crack of dawn, and moved quickly, if they could reach Baumseite before nightfall. It would take a lot of stress of camping out in Xadian forests away. Running into magical beasts was... Not preferable.

Still, doing so would require a lot of effort, and very few breaks. She'd have to go over the idea with Callum, see what he made of it. Either way, she wanted to be out of here tomorrow. She'd had enough of Lichterluft.

At least being away from the city might give her a chance to breathe.

The final segment of the bridge shot under her feet, and let her step onto the walkway surrounding the Hells, before shooting back to the other side in the pile again. She took in a deep breath, and then let it escape her again.

A trick Runaan had taught her - Inhale - One, two, three, four, exhale, one, two, three, four. Repeat. Again. Again. Again. Each inhale made her feel that little bit calmer, until she felt herself become composed. At least, as composed as she could get, considering. She stepped into the building.

Virtually immediately, that composure was thrown out the window.

"'Ave t'say, 'm surprised you've never 'eard've any o' this."

"I uh... I guess you're just a lot more... Direct than people from my village."

The roomkeeper and Callum. The pair of them were sat at a desk opposite one another. The Roomkeeper must have been on break or had finished his shift. Either way, he must have spotted Callum and decided to just strike up a conversation with him. Who knew why - Maybe he recognized Callum as the Skywing that had been with the Moonshine Elf he'd spoken to earlier. Or maybe Callum had gone up to him to ask him about something in the room or - Whatever. It didn't really matter.

Rayla already knew the context of the conversation. She knew what was going on, what was happening, what was being said. What was with this Roomkeeper, and why he was so persistent, she had no idea. Chances were he wasn't smart enough to have figured out that Callum was Human - He was just clueless. Clueless enough to not know when Rayla hadn't wanted to hear it, and clearly clueless enough to not realize Callum didn't want to hear it either.

Callum wasn't an idiot either. He wasn't going to want to talk to this guy for too long - There was really only so much he knew about Elves, Xadia, the talking points about Humans, and the attitudes throughout all of Xadia. What more could he say other than agreeing with the guy without giving away the fact he was Human himself? She didn't get why he didn't just up and leave though. Was that some Human thing? Again though, it had no relevance.

Quickly, Rayla made her way over to the table the pair of them were sat at. "There you are. I've been looking for you."

Both Callum and the Roomkeeper turned towards her. Callum and her breifly made eye contact when he turned his head, and he gave her a 'please get me out of this' expression as they did. Suddenly Rayla felt kind of bad about leaving him in the Hall on his own in the first place.

"Oh, 'ello again." The roomkeeper greeted Rayla. "'Was just talkin' to yer friend abou -"

"Sorry but we kind of have to leave immediately." Rayla spoke rapidly, grabbing Callum's wrist, and practically pulling him onto his feet. "We've got to leave early tomorrow and need to be gone before first light, sorry, goodbye." By that point, she was more ore less dragging him away. She could feel the Roomkeepers eyes on her, but thankfully, for once, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

The second they were around the nearest corner, both Callum and Rayla let out a huge sigh.

"Thank you." Callum muttered from behind his hands, which were now covering his face. "I was dealing with that guy for the last twenty minutes."

"No... Problem." Rayla sighed, more out of breath than he was on account of having to have dragged him away. "Why didn't you just... Leave?"

"It... Seemed rude?"

"Is... Is that a Human thing?"

"More Katolian than something all Humans would do."

"Figures I'd get have to deal with a Human from the one Kingdom that has a culture of being polite to people they blatantly don't want to deal with." Rayla's face fell into her hand and she groaned. "Please tell me you didn't tell him anything' that might give us away." She paused. "And where the hell did you leave Zym?"

"Easier question first, Zym's back in the room." Callum answered. Before he could say anything else though, a couple of other Elves walked nearby them. They gave the pair of them a brief look, but didn't say anything other than a small nod of acknowledgement. That reminded them that they were still in a space where anyone could overhear them. Callum stood upright again, and began to make his way up the nearest stairwell, back to the room.

Rayla followed him, closely, her voice lowered to a whisper. "An' in what world is the answer to where the Prince of the Dragons is easier than tellin' me if you've told a Roomkeeper somethin?"

"There's... A definite answer to where Zym is?"

"Wha - Urgh." Rayla felt her fingers pinch the bridge of her nose, not sure if she should be annoyed at the fact his logic was technically solid. They carried on walking up until they reached their floor. There wasn't anyone in the corridors, so she asked, "Okay. Alright. What did you tell him, exactly?"

"Basically, I just told him what we rehearsed." Callum explained. "We came from the village in the west to meet relatives of mine, and now we're heading back east."

"Did you give any names?"

"He never asked me for them."

With a slight sigh, Rayla allowed herself to relax. "Okay, I... Think we're fine then.

That was just the absolute most basic amount of information, and didn't really contradict anything that Rayla had told him. Callum had kept his statements intentionally vague, thank the spirits and the Gods.

Once they reached their door, Callum fumbled with the key for a few seconds before he managed to unlock it. Upon entry, the pair of them found Zym tucked up in a bundle of clothes that the two of them had thrown together as a makeshift bed for him. He was sleeping, wrapped up and looking fairly comfortable. He let out a few tiny snores and, for lack of a better word, croaks, as he slept. He must have been having a dream of some sort, Rayla guessed.

She sighed. She was afraid to ask, but she was almost more afraid of not knowing. Almost like she felt the need to defend herself, but was afraid to really know what it was she had to defend. If she asked, she was going to get he first, undiluted critique of her people.

Her head shook. No matter if she didn't want to hear it or not. It was Callum she was travelling with, and the Elves needed a reality check just as much as the Humans did. That included her. If she wanted to help change the way Humans and Elves thought of one another, She had to understand the way they thought now. She needed a Humans perspective on Elven bigotry.

Even if she didn't want to believe that her people were capable of it.

"I uh…" She tripped over her words. That felt weird. "Uh… What did that uh… what did that Roomkeeper talk to you about, anyway?"

"Hm?" Callum raised his eyebrows and looked up for a moment, jogging his memory of exactly what had transpired. "Just a whole bunch of word salad about Humans, mostly. It was kind of creepy to be honest with you."

"Anything specifically?"

"Uh… Five fingered freaks, hornless brainlets, violent monsters, sub-sentient apes." Callum raised a finger as he thought up each insult that had been indirectly thrown his way. "I don't think he knew I was Human though. He didn't strike me as… Particularly smart."

Rayla blinked at him, and scanned his face. She was looking for… Something. Anything really, to tell how upset he was.

He… Didn't even seem that upset. That confused her.

Worse – It actually irritated her.

"A-Are you serious?" She asked, raising her own eyebrow.

"About the insults or that guy being dense? Because…. Yes, either way?"

"Not that! You!"

"Uh… .Still yes?"

"How are you calm about this?!"

Once more, Callum blinked, this time in complete confusion. "Uh… Should I be angry?"

"I – Yes?!" Rayla answered, exasperated. "An Elf calls you an' your entire race sub-sentient apes, and that doesn't even bother you in the slightest?! Do you even know how royally pissed off they'd get if you had the gall to say anythin' even mildly that prejudiced?!"

"You make it sound like I haven't heard Humans saying the exact same thing about the Elves."

"That's not the point 'ere!"

"Rayla, I don't even know what point _you_ are trying to make here." Callum was now scratching at his head, looking thoroughly confused beyond all previous measurement. "I didn't expect all the Elves here to be like – "

"Like what?"

"…Like you." Callum finished. "Elves are people. The same as Humans. You're the one who made me realize that. I can't expect all Elves to be the same as one person. "

"It doesn't bother you that everyone outside o' this room 'as forgotten the real reason that we threw Humans out of Xadia? An' the ones that do remember are using it to help push this insane narrative that we're better than your kind?"

For a moment, Callum didn't say anything. He sighed, and looked at Rayla, with that expression that he had whenever he was trying to concentrate on something, usually either drawing or magic. This time it was different though, like he was trying to figure out how he felt, or processing what it was that he had heard just now.

Somehow, the fact that he even took that moment to think irritated Rayla even more. Was he taking this as seriously as she was? Or seriously in even the smallest degree? Was he just that infatuated with the architecture and magic that he was ignoring half the reason that they were even here in the first place?

"…Rayla, do you think that the way other Elves act reflects on you, somehow?"

His question was simple, but it made Rayla catch her reflexive retort in her throat. Did she?

Was that what she was concerned about? Was it… Fear?

Fear that the way her own people acted was somehow a reflection of her? Or the biases that she'd grown up with, the ones that over the last month, she had tried hard to purge, but couldn't be sure if she had? That she had begun to feel out of place in her own homeland, and disgusted with the people around her who couldn't know any better?

Disappointment in the fact that they had gone down this path? Shame because she knew that spending even a small amount of time around Humans would destroy so many of the identity cornerstones of Xadia?

"Yes!" She answered. Then she realized what she'd answered. "No!" Then she realized again. "I… I don't know! I…" She fell silent. She… She didn't know anymore. Once the words had started to come out, everything she thought she felt just… Collapsed. She didn't even know why.

"…You were in Katolis with me for weeks." Callum pointed out. "You never assumed that me and Ezran were like the other Humans who talked down about Elves…. Did you?"

"No… No, I never thought… Well, at first, a little. But… No. Not by the time we went to the Banther Lodge."

"That was only a day after we met."

"'S'all it takes to tear down centuries of Elven belief towards Humans…" Her head hung slightly, and she turned towards the window. Callum's face reflected in the glass slightly, above a row of houses. "…I… I was proud of Elven history. I still am… I… I still want to be. That's… That's why I even became an Assassin in the first place. I wanted to be the part of history that…. That someone else would be proud of later down the line…" Her eyes shut. "How can I be though? How can I be proud of a history that's been nothing but Elves finding ways to claim they're superior to Humans? Humans started it by using Dark Magic first, sure… But what difference does it make who was right or wrong in the first place anymore? It was centuries ago. Why… Why in the world do we have to keep thinking the same way that our ancestors did? Why can't we just… Put it past us?"

"…I thought that was why you wanted it to be a Human to bring Zym back to the Queen of the Dragons."

"I do… But… Is that going to matter if someone else is just going to use the same excuses down the line to justify more… Of…"

She opened her eyes, and gestured outside.

"….This."

It was hard to not feel like she was trying to fight against the titanic weight of the current reality of the world. Brining Zym back would stop the war, almost certainly. At the very least it would give pause for thought. It was the fact that she couldn't say she was absolutely certain, and had to be 'almost certain' that was worrying her. And even then, now it felt like she was just putting a bandage over the wound, just delaying the inevitable.

She wanted to be proud of her people, and her home. She wanted them to grow, and to end this conflict with Humanity. There was no reason for it. But everything felt like it was just going to revert back to how it was if they didn't do something more. If they didn't challenge this idea that Elves were better than Humans.

How drastically different her life was now because of meeting Callum and Ezran, and bringing Zym back home. How differently she looked at things… How much she realized now just how bad they had all allowed things to get.

"…It won't matter if we don't try." Callum said.

Turning, Rayla looked towards him. She didn't know what expression she had on her face, but the expression on Callum's told her it wasn't a great look. He seemed to choose his next words carefully.

"Things like this happen in Katolis too. These sorts of rumours – You saw what my Aunt Amaya thought of Elves. This isn't something that's unique to your people… I've felt… Ashamed of what people from Katolis have said about Elves ever since I met you as well. But they don't represent me because they're…. Not me. They're the people I have to fight against as much as you have to fight against the people who think backwards here in Xadia. One side might have done worse things than the other, or maybe they didn't… But this…. Isn't about revenge. It's about showing people on both sides that they're wrong, and showing that Humans and Elves can work together, isn't it?"

Taking a step further, Callum held up his hand, so Rayla could see all his fingers.

"I… I don't even see a different between Elves and Humans at this point."

Callum smiled softly, and then he used his other hand to grab hold of Rayla's wrist softly, and then held her hand up, so her fingers were all showing.

"Elves can do magic naturally, and Humans can't… But I'm learning, so who knows on that front. I have five fingers on each hand, and you have four. You have horns, I don't. You have pointy ears, I don't. That's it. That's all that's different between us. It's no different than hair, skin, or eye colour – They're just superficial. We're already showing how outdated that sort of thinking is just by talking together right now, aren't we?"

Rayla nodded slowly, not entirely certain where he was going with this.

"There…. There are always going to be people who think that's enough. And there will be for a long time to come… But I… I think the best way is to make sure that they're the minority, that we don't let them dictate how we live and move forward. I… I'll admit, I had some preconceptions about Elves before I met you, but you were right – A day was really all it took to prove them all wrong. We can prove it all wrong, if we just keep going. If we keep fighting. If we stop the war… And if we keep fighting after that."

His hands gripped onto her wrist a bit tighter.

"If we stop moving forward… If we stop fighting against these preconceptions… That's when we've lost. That's when the fighting will keep coming back. That's why we can't give up. Not until we've made the line between Elf and Human so blurry it doesn't mean anything anymore. That's… That's the world I want to create. And I want to create that because of this whole journey with you."

Now his hand grabbed hold of hers, and smiled.

"We've already convinced a few people and each other. What's another few million people?" He joked.

That got a laugh out of Rayla. The first one she felt she'd had in a while now.

"We've got this, Rayla." He said, returning to being serious again. "We can do this, you and I."

Maybe it was the fact that she now understood what it was he wanted. That she understood what he wanted to help create a lot more clearly, and his own dreams for the world sounded even crazier than what she wanted. Maybe it was because she'd finally gotten everything off her chest, as incoherently as it had been. Maybe it was because this reminded her that she wasn't subject to the attitudes of her people, and that they didn't reflect her own beliefs or character.

Maybe it was because any doubts she'd had as to her own morality had been abolished with this conversation. Maybe it was because the words Callum had said has inspired something in her.

Or maybe it was just because it was Callum saying them, and that made them all the better to hear. Rayla couldn't be sure.

But she could be sure that the smile that was now on her face wouldn't be wiped away until the next day, when they were traipsing through the mud and trees at a hundred miles an hour.

And even then, she'd think back to this conversation, and that smile would come back all over again.

She couldn't be sure of what the future held. But she knew which future she wanted to fight for. What kind of Xadia she wanted to fight for. The kind of Xadia she would be proud of. The part of Xadia she wanted someone to be proud of later down the line.

The Xadia – No, the world that she was willing to fight and die for.

The fact she was with Callum – The Human who would remind her of this if she ever lost sight of it, made her smile all the more. He was right.

She squeezed his hand back.

"Aye. We've got this."

* * *

**So this was my first try at a Dragon Prince fic – I enjoy this series very much and wanted to throw my hand into the ring at writing a fic. I'm quite happy with how it came out. I may indulge in this in the future, probably when season three comes out again if I decide to do it. Rayla is best girl – The Scottish Elf is adorkable and I kind of adore her. **

**The topic of this fic was one I feel Dragon Prince comments on a lot subtly – Race is a far more substantial prospect there, whereas in the real world it has been proven to be utterly inconsequential and basically non-existent, but in DP there are some features of Elves which we aren't sure if they're biological of related to Magic. For those who don't know, I'm an Anarcho-Communist – Pretty far left leaning on the political scale – Erasure of nations, race, and gender as social concepts being my most vehement beliefs - and to that extent, in line with all scientific evidence, I consider race nothing more than a social construct. I tried to make this fic reflective of that – Elves and Humans being basically the same bar a few physical differences which are by and large incredibly minor. I tried to get across the fact that Callum has begun to see Elves the same way he sees Humans – They just have some different physical features than other people. Hopefully that came across. **

**I also threw in a few nods to modern talking points – Skull size = Smaller brains = Inferiority of one race is still a talking point in fringe politics, and I listen to a lot of debates with Race Realists in them. They're universally idiotic, so I made the Roomkeeper a mockery of them, mostly because I find that amusing, and on the off chance one of them reads this it'll piss them off beyond all belief, which again, will be extremely funny. **

**I also made the Elves essentially Anarcho-Communist – I dream of a moneyless society. But in all honesty, the main inspiration for doing this came from the best Dragon Prince fic I've read thus far – The Midnight Compass by DeeTheTeaDrinkingDragon. Shoutout to them – No I don't know them personally in the least. I read the fic while in the Dominican Republic, and just loved it to bits, took inspiration from it, have nods to it, and feel they deserve the shoutout. Rayla is a useless Scottish dork, Callum is, well, Callum, trying to pass as a Skywing Elf – Again, also what inspired him being Skywing here because I have zero creativity :D**

**Been in a rut recently – Hoping getting this out will help me get back into the swing of things. I'll be returning to MHA fics after this. Though I might indulge in the occasional fandom outside of MHA. Gumball is looking kind of tempting these days. **

**ANYWAYS, I've ranted enough – I hope you all enjoyed this fic – For those of you who don't know me, I generally write MHA fics, and you can find me as QuirkQuartz on Twitter and Tumblr if you want to follow me for Christ knows what reason. I hope you all enjoyed this fic, comrades, and I'll see you in whatever it is I decide to make next. See ya!**


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